Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Recordings

'Ayres for the Theatre is a wonderful collection of rich and varied, tuneful music and has been marvellously well recorded by engineer Tony Fau ...'Ayres for the Theatre' is a wonderful collection of rich and varied, tuneful music and has been marvellously well recorded by engineer Tony Faulkner ...» More

'This disc deserves to go to the top of the charts' (Early Music Review)'Fine performances from the Brandenburg Consort, excellent documentation. A good CD to start a Baroque collection' (Classic CD)» More

One charming night gives more delight Than a hundred lucky days. Night and I improve the taste, Make the pleasure longer last A thousand several ways.

Elkanah Settle (1648-1724)

The Fairy Queen contains a delightful song, One charming night, for a slightly wicked character called Secresy. Purcell originally scored the accompaniment, meant to convey the mysterious impression of a magical, dark night, for two recorders. Transposing the music up a tone, we used another equally other-worldly colour, that of two muted violins: the resulting sound is quite similar to that of two pardessus de violes.

O, let me forever weep: My eyes no more shall welcome sleep. I’ll hide me from the sight of day, And sigh my soul away. He’s gone, his loss deplore, And I shall never see him more.

Elkanah Settle (1648-1724)

Purcell’s semi-opera of 1692, The Fairy Queen, was a setting of a libretto after Shakespeare, thought most probably to be by Settle. For The Plaint (‘O, let me forever weep’), in which Laura mourns for her departed lover, Purcell uses a ground bass of an unusual length, seven bars, which enables the singer’s phrases and the plaintive obbligato violin to overlap repetitions of the bass pattern, creating a continuous texture. Purcell also introduces transpositions of the bass, and employs two contrasting sections, the first in a major key, the second a recitative-like passage ‘He’s gone, his loss deplore’ where the bass comes to a complete halt.

Purcell wrote six ‘operatic’ works, although his attributed setting of The Tempest (c1695) is thought to be by Weldon. Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691) and The Fairy Queen (1692) all received their first performances in the same theatre as Locke’s Tempest.